A Free Syrian Army fighter shoots at Syrian army positions during an attack on a military academy in Tal Sheer village, north of Aleppo on Thursday. / Manu Brabo, AP

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

The Syrian use of Scud missiles is a dangerous escalation by the Bashar Assad regime in its increasingly desperate effort to put down a rebellion, an analyst says.

"Scud missiles are a lot more powerful and a lot less discriminate than a bomb from an aircraft," said Joseph Holliday, an analyst for the Institute of the Study of War in Washington.

The regime fired the missiles recently from Damascus into northern Syria, according to two U.S. officials cited by the Associated Press. The missiles are generally not as accurate as aircraft or artillery and have ranges from 150 miles to 400 miles.

The reputation of the missiles as terror weapons was first made by Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who used the weapons against Israel and Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War in 1991.

Hussein fired 42 Scuds into Israel, killing one person. Another Scud struck a U.S. Army barracks in Saudi Arabia, killing 28 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

In Syria, Assad has been escalating his military response as rebels make gains. He had been shelling neighborhoods with artillery; when that failed to stop the rebellion, he turned to air strikes.

Estimates vary on how many Scuds Assad has at his disposal, but it could be in the hundreds. Though their explosive power is relatively low, Scuds can be fitted with chemical weapons.

Holliday says the use of the Scuds is part of Assad's campaign of increasing his assaults in stages, then gauging the West's response before taking the next step, Holliday said.

"We're reaching the end of the exploratory ladder," Holliday said. "The only way the regime can escalate further is chemical weapons."